Kenya 2006

An Excerpt from my journal:
About thirty minutes away from our departure from this peaceful place. Yesterday we were witness to an entire pride of lions consisting of 12-16 in total; lioness, cubs and male all together – first napping in the shade and then preparing to hunt as the sun began to set. The image of a male lion sleeping at the base of a bush 5 feet away from me will not be a fleeting memory. He looked like such a gentle creature as he lay there in the shade, but my logic was quick to remind me that this lion if stumbled upon and disturbed would have been anything but gentle in response. We saw our second cheetah, although the experience we had 2 days ago could never be topped, this time we were joined by a minimum of 10 other vans surrounding the cheetah as it lay in the shade of an abandoned ant hill.
The time draws close to when I will return to my life and work and daily routine. I wish to retain the feeling of freedom I have from all of those things at this present moment. Although this will not be easy I am going to do my best to simplify my everyday life so that freedom will not remain half a world away for the rest of my days. As far as Kenya goes – I hope I get to return to this beautiful place in the future and help empower and provide support to its people who have been so welcoming to me. I feel that the Masaai have much to offer to the rest of the world. Their ability to sit and listen to each other, sometimes for hours at a time, is definitely missing from American culture and their ability to work together to reach consensus on community concerns is yet another fascinating technology we could all benefit from.

These images were gathered during a trip off the beaten path in Kenya in August of 2006 while travelling with the Prescott College Board of Trustees.